


Felines and Succulents

by lawavocado



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Aromantic Asexual Natasha Romanov, Asexual Sam Wilson, Bisexual Bucky Barnes, Bisexual Steve Rogers, M/M, Minor Violence, pre-serum steve typical violence, since natasha is aro, slight hints of polyamory in the beginning but this is not a polyamory fic sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-14
Updated: 2015-06-18
Packaged: 2018-04-04 08:23:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4130958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lawavocado/pseuds/lawavocado
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve keeps having his plants knocked over by a pesky cat who happens to belong to his neighbor three floors down. He finally goes to give the cat's owner a piece of his mind, and instead finds Bucky and Natasha.</p><p> </p><p>(If you don't want to read the little bit of violence, it's only in chapter three, and the first two chapters could be read without the third.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Gardenias

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by an au idea from a post on tumblr: "my cat keeps breaking into your apartment and ate all of your plants so I asked you out for dinner to apologize"  
> (tweaked a bit from the original idea, thank you to pensversusswords on tumblr for making that lovely au post)

Chapter 1

 

The loud clang of pottery crashing to the ground and shattering startled Steve out of a dead sleep. The clock on his nightstand read 3 am.

“It better not be that damn cat _again,_ ” he muttered to himself as he got out of bed to go inspect the current state of his precious plants along the windowsill and around the living room.

As he entered the living room, he caught sight of the same cat that climbs up the fire escape to knock over his indoor garden at least once a month. Steve always curses himself for forgetting to completely close the window at night. And once again, he lunged for the cat, because _dammit the creature always gets away before he can catch it, return it to its owner and then shout at them and demand they do something about this._

“Gotcha!” Steve said victoriously as he scooped up the feline right before it could swipe at his succulents with its paws. The snowy colored shorthair’s tag on its collar aptly read “Winter”, along with its owner’s address. It was for an apartment three floors down.

Steve quickly glanced around and surveyed the current state of the room. Two-thirds of his pots by the window now lay shattered on the living room floor. He let out a pained sigh, but made up his mind not to do anything about it until after he confronted Winter’s owner.

 

 

Steve was dead set on scowling and shouting as he knocked on the door of Winter’s home. He no longer wanted to do that when the door opened and standing on the other side was a redhead in fuzzy pajamas.

“Hey there, silly cat, there you are,” the woman cooed as she took Winter out of Steve’s arms. “Thanks, but you didn’t have to do this, he always finds his way back home,” the woman said, looking down at Steve as she pet the cat in her arms.

“Uh, yeah, well I live a few floors up, and he gets into my apartment and-“

“Hey Nat, you’re missing the best part,” a deeper voice said from inside the apartment, cutting Steve off midsentence.

“Then why don’t you pause it,” the redhead said. “And get over here and talk to this guy, he says your cat is a home invader.”

She retreated into the apartment and was replaced by a tall brunette in a tank top and pajama bottoms. The man leaned against the doorframe, one of his crossed arms clearly metallic.

“So what’s Winter done this time?” the man asked. His casual attitude fired Steve up again as he remembered the ruins of his beloved gardenias lying on his floor.

“Your cat _always_ crawls in through my window and proceeds to knock over all of my plants, and has been doing this for _months_ and I am getting tired of having to clean up after it, then having to replace my very well-cared-for plants, only to have the whole process repeat itself every few weeks,” Steve ranted, looking the man dead in the eyes. “So I would very much appreciate you keeping your cat _indoors_ and _off_ the fire escape.”

The face Steve was burrowing his gaze into tightened with raised eyebrows and a wide smile, and the entire figure in the doorway shook with laughter.

“What the hell is so funny?” Steve deadpanned. _Because his green children were no goddamn laughing matter._

“Sorry, I-“ the man said, trying to muffle his chuckling. “I’m sorry, really, about your plants, I swear I had no idea, it’s just that I didn’t exactly expect that much raw anger from someone of your – uh – height. “ At just around five feet, Steve Rogers was definitely short, and this man was easily at least six.

“Oh, so it’s so funny that I’m short, is that it?” Steve asked, not going to just take that lying down.

The brunette raised his hands in a conciliatory fashion. “Hey, I didn’t mean to offend you-“

“No fighting now you two,” the redhead shouted from a few yards away.

“We’re not gonna fight, Nat,” the asshole cat owner said over his shoulder. He turned back to Steve and gave him a questioning look.

Aside from being nearly a foot shorter than his potential opponent, Steve was also at a disadvantage due to his ridiculous span of health issues, but like hell he would ever back down from an actual fight. Even so, there really wasn’t any reason to engage this stranger in a brawl in the hallway in the middle of the night over a joke. Steve sighed. “No, we’re not.”

The man smiled and stepped back slightly out of the doorway into the apartment behind him. “I really am sorry about Winter breaking your stuff – apparently all the time, so why don’t you come in and I’ll go grab some cash for you to pay you back. My name’s James by the way, but most people just call me Bucky.”

“I’m Steve,” the smaller man said in turn, stepping into the apartment. The man – Bucky – left the room, and Steve looked around. The place was a complete mess, the opposite of Steve’s neat, tidy home. On the couch amidst a mountain of pillows and blankets sat the redhead from before, munching from the large pot of popcorn on her lap. It was an actual large metal pot. Various snacks and drinks littered the coffee table, and on the TV played some generic horror film Steve had never cared enough about to watch.

 “Make yourself at home. I’m Natasha,” she said with a smile, patting the couch beside her.

Steve carefully made his way over to her. Winter hopped into his lap almost immediately after he sat down. Steve reluctantly pet him, because even though the little rascal did hurt his innocent plants, well, it was still a cute cat.

Natasha offered some of her popcorn as she returned to watching the film, but Steve politely declined.

Bucky returned, propping himself on the arm of the couch as he offered a small stack of bills to Steve. “Let me know if this isn’t enough to cover all the plant stuff, this is all the cash I have right now.”

“Thanks, this is fine,” Steve said, smiling. He wasn’t as angry anymore, and these people actually seemed really nice. And pretty attractive, actually.

“So uh, are you two dating?” Steve asked out of curiosity. Yep, just curiosity and not slight attraction towards both of them simultaneously.

“He’s single,” Natasha quickly responded with what Steve thought might have been a wink.

“We’re friends. Nat put out an ad looking for a roommate, and here I am,” Bucky said, chiming in.

Steve nodded, then yawned. It must be close to 4 am by now. Both Bucky and Natasha seemed wide awake.

“I’ll be heading out now. Sorry we had to meet like this,” Steve said, picking the cat up off his lap and setting him down on the couch before standing up.

“Don’t worry about it,” Bucky said, reassuring him with that same great smile. _Nice, Rogers, already into the guy._

“Come back soon,” Natasha added. _Damn. Both of them._

Steve decided to go for it. “Would you be interested in lunch maybe, or grabbing a coffee?”

“Which one of us?” Natasha asked with a smile.

Steve turned bright red, looking from her to Bucky repeatedly. “I…”

“For me it’s a no, I don’t swing that way. Or any way, actually. Bucky on the other hand…” Natasha said as Steve struggled to speak.

Bucky responded with a pointed look in his roommate’s reaction.

"Don’t act like I didn’t see you checking him out when you came back into the room. You’re not as slick as you think you are, Barnes.”

“Well, are you interested?” Steve finally managed to say.

“Y-yeah, sure,” Bucky said, stumbling over his words.

“Tomorrow maybe? It’s Saturday so I can come by around noon?” Steve asked. _Is this man really blushing right now over me of all people asking him out?_

“See you then,” Bucky answered immediately.

 

Steve smiled at both of them and showed himself out. He had a smug, satisfied grin on his face the entire way back up to his apartment. He was still smiling as he cleaned up the mess in the living room and fell back into bed around 5 am, exhausted. He didn’t care that it was so late anymore. He was looking forward to, what was now, later that day.


	2. Orchids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> time for a first date, and getting to know one another.

Chapter 2

 

The alarm buzzed for a few seconds before it was haphazardly tapped off and Bucky rolled out of bed. He stretched and yawned, rubbing his shoulder where it connected with his prosthetic because he had passed out with it still on _again_ after that all night horror movie marathon with Nat. Considering last night’s activities ended at around 7 am, Bucky figured he’d take coffee over lunch today. He smiled through his fatigue as he began getting ready, remembering his date. _Which was in less than an hour, dammit Barnes, get it together._

 

It took Bucky an entire ten minutes to wrestle with his hair and get it into an acceptable bun. Nat was of course still sound asleep and couldn’t offer him any assistance in that area. He figured it was fine as it was, he’d just keep it casual today, considering it was just coffee. And he managed to get a date standing around in pajamas, so maybe Steve wasn’t one to care too much about appearances.

 

_And thinking about appearances_ … _Steve._ The man was already pretty attractive just standing in the doorway. Blond, blue-eyed, and then on the inside, full of fire. Bucky would be a goddamn liar if he didn’t admit to himself that he wasn’t at least a little turned on during that whole altercation the night before.

 

A knock at the door tore Bucky away from his thoughts and back into reality because _oh shit, it’s already noon._ He gave himself a quick once over in the mirror before dashing to the door, a grin on his face as he opened the door and saw Steve waiting in the hallway for him. Bucky suddenly felt a bit… sloppy… seeing his date’s neatly tidied hair, swept to the side, _and_ _the man must use some sort of product in his hair because it’s slightly poofed up and still sitting perfectly._

 

“Ready to go?” Steve asked, smiling with his hands in his pockets.

“Yeah, of course, I was thinking we could grab that coffee you mentioned,” Bucky said eagerly, walking down the hall towards the stairs.

“Late night?”

“You guessed it,” Bucky said, laughing.

When they got to the bottom of the stairs and out onto the street, Bucky noticed Steve was a tad winded. “Hey, you alright?”

“I’m fine, just,” Steve said, catching his breath. “I’ve just got asthma, so it doesn’t take much for me to become short of breath.”

“We could’ve just taken the elevator.”

Steve laughed. “Relax, I’ll be fine, Buck.”

_Buck._ Bucky really liked the sound of that. Especially Steve saying it.

 

 

Steve was nearly dying of laughter by the time they reached the coffee shop, as Bucky told this long story about how he and Natasha had gotten themselves kicked out of three different breakfast restaurants in one night when their friend Clint was in town.

 

“What about you, Steve? Ever gotten yourself into trouble?” Bucky asked after they had gotten their coffees and sat down.

“From time to time,” Steve said casually, sipping his coffee.

“Do you go around picking fights with irresponsible cat owners?”

Steve laughed. “Not usually. I just… don’t like bullies.”

“And who usually wins?”

Steve was quiet at first, looking down into his coffee. “Someone’s got to stand up to them. That’s the only way they ever back down.”

“Steve.”

“Yeah?” The blond looked up from his cup.

“Do me a favor, and pick your battles,” Bucky said, looking Steve in the eye. He reached up and gently touched Steve’s cheek. “I’d rather not see that pretty face of yours all bruised up, you know?”

Steve smiled, and glanced at the metal hand that pulled away from his face. “So was that from picking the wrong fight?”

“Uh, yeah… with a car,” Bucky said looking at his arm. “It was a pretty bad wreck, I’m lucky I made it out alive. The other guy didn’t.”

_Good going, Rogers. First date and you bring up a topic like this._

Bucky must’ve read Steve’s expression and said, “No use talking about things we can’t change, right?” There was a small smile on his face. “So tell me about those plants you seem so invested in.”

 

For the next hour, Bucky listened to Steve talk all about his succulents and gardenias and other plants Bucky couldn’t remember the names of, and then about the in’s and out’s of his job at the local florist. The entire time, Steve was just so passionate and had such a lovely grin from ear to ear. _I hope one day I’ll be the one to make him smile like that._

 

 

Steve lost track of how long he’d been talking, and realized he’d probably been babbling on for far too long. Surprisingly, Bucky was still sitting there, an attentive look and smile on his face.

“Sorry, I just… got carried away,” Steve said, taking a sip of his now very cold coffee.

“No need to apologize,” Bucky said, leaning back in his chair.

“So what do you do, aside from watching zombie flicks with your roommate?” Steve asked.

“Well Nat’s a dance instructor and I work over at the Intrepid Museum, resident historian.”

Steve raised an eyebrow. “Historian?”

“Yeah, I’ve got a bachelors in history from Brooklyn College,” Bucky said nonchalantly.

“Wow, small world. Went there for my art degree.” _That I never did anything with._

“An artist, huh? You know, I’ve got a friend at the MoMA that’ll let us in for free.”

_A second date? Hell yeah._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (heads up for minor violence next chapter, nothing graphic) 
> 
> Chapter 3 will be the last one!


	3. Camellias

It’s been about four weeks since Steve met Bucky, and three since their second date at the art museum. Steve could’ve sworn that Bucky spent more time looking at him than the art.

 

Today for the first time, Steve asked to leave work early. He decided to stop by the Intrepid museum to try and surprise Bucky at work.

“Don’t I know you?” A familiar voice asked from behind him.

Steve turned and saw Sam, the jogging birdwatcher Steve would see when he went to the park to sketch the scenery and people.

“Well look who it is. What’re you doing here?” Steve asked as Sam headed towards him.

“I work here, aviation specialist,” Sam said. “The better question is why are _you_ here.”

“Looking for someone who works here, James Barnes?”

“Bucky? He’s my weekday morning running partner,” Sam said, surprising Steve. “Follow me.”

They walked to the other side of the museum, right as Bucky appeared to be finishing up answering questions from a group of visitors.

“Hey Barnes!” Sam called out, waving.

Bucky smirked and headed towards them, and his smile widened when he saw Steve.

“So this is the neighbor you were telling me about?” Sam asked Bucky when he reached them.

“Yeah, do you two know each other?”

“By some weird coincidence, yeah, we do. Now some of us have actual work to do, so I’ll be off. Catch you later, Barnes. See you around, Steve,” Sam said, leaving.

 

“So you talk about me?” Steve asked as he and Bucky wandered around the museum.

“Of course,” Bucky said with a smile.

“To your running partner.”

“Is that how he described me?” Bucky asked.

“Yeah, why? What would you have expected him to say?”

“Well I guess ‘ex-boyfriend, now friend and running partner’ is more accurate, but a bit of a mouthful.”

Steve stopped. “You two used to date?”

“Yeah, but it didn’t really work out. Natasha had introduced us, and then after we broke up we went our separate ways until Sam started working here.” Bucky smiled at Steve and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Gotta run, Stevie. I’m still on the clock for another hour. Maybe tonight we can order take out and have a movie night?”

“Just no zombies this time.”

“Steven Grant Rogers, I promise you that my taste in films is not limited to just the undead.”

 

* * *

 

Heading back towards the apartment building, Steve decided to take the long way home and enjoy the afternoon. He spent a while in the park, making a mental note to go back the next day with his sketchbook since the Black-eyed Susan’s were still in bloom.

The sun was already setting by the time Steve bothered to check his watch, too engrossed in the flowers, again. There was still construction going on blocking the route he usually took at night, so he had to take a detour down some less pleasant streets, the ones his mother always told him to steer clear of.

About two blocks from home, Steve noticed a couple of guys following way too close behind a young woman. One of them grabbed her arm. Steve didn’t hesitate for even a moment and went right up them.

“Let her go, asshole,” Steve said to the man’s back.

“Hey buddy, stay out of this,” another one of the men said, turning to Steve.

Steve ignored the second guy, and moved around the first guy to pull his hand off the girl’s arm.

“What did I just say?” the second man said as he and the third grabbed Steve. Luckily, the girl used the momentary distraction to free herself and run.

“Shit!” the first guy cursed under his breath. He turned to Steve and grabbed him by the front of his shirt. “Think you’re some kinda hero, huh?” The three men pulled Steve off the sidewalk and into the nearby alley. They laughed when Steve put up his fists, ready to fight. Their laughter let Steve get just one good swing in. The first punch one of the guys threw hit him square in the jaw. The next was a direct hit to sternum that knocked the wind out of him. He put his guard back up, trying to catch his breath, and got slugged right in the face.

Steve looked back over at the men just in time to see the first one hit the ground. Standing there, pissed as hell, was Bucky. Apparently it just took watching Bucky throw one punch with his metal arm to send the other two running, the third one scrambling off the ground and fleeing after them.

“Steve!” Bucky shouted when the men were gone, walking up to the blond and holding his face in his hands. “Are you alright? I told you to be careful!”

“Buck… They were going to hurt this girl, I couldn’t just stand by and watch.”

Bucky ran his thumb over the bruise that was already starting to form on Steve’s cheek. “Come on, let’s get you home.”

 

Of course, by home, Bucky meant _his_ apartment, not Steve’s. No matter how many times Steve assured him that he was fine, Bucky insisted Steve stay the night. All of this had nothing to do with Steve being weak or anything – it was that _Steve_ , the person Bucky had only known for a month but was already just so precious to him, was hurt, and Bucky just wanted to keep him close that night, to know he was alright and safe in his arms.

Later that night, as he was laying holding Steve close, Bucky started to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Steve asked into Bucky’s shoulder.

_The man took on three guys, by himself. He goes from looking at flowers in the park to getting into a fight he stood no chance in winning._

“You really are something else, Rogers,” was all Bucky said.

Steve snorted and buried his face in Bucky’s neck.

The moment was broken by a knock on the door before it opened, Natasha poking her head in the room. “Hope I’m not interrupting anything. Winter got out again,” was all she said before closing the door.

“Boyfriend or not, you’re paying for that, Buck,” Steve mumbled.

Bucky smiled and kissed the top of Steve’s head. “Of course.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading!!
> 
> Comments are always welcome.


End file.
